Hey Russell. Hope things come out ok at your appointment. I use Mrs.dash seasoning blends to add flavor to food. They are salt free and use different herbs and spices to get the flavor. I have not really missed using the salt shaker as I have found lots of different ways to add flavor to my meals.

I have diabetes, CHF, and obviously need to drop my sodium. I am at 1,150 mg a day, and am okay with that level. I recently had to switch off a high protein diet, due to kidney stones. I am going to doctor today for a follow-up, after being in the hospital Friday night. I was in some pain, but had no idea I had passed a kidney stone. i am on Coumadin, so when I went to the bathroom, there was a LOT of blood. I still have some pain, but overall feel pretty good. No more blood, which freaked me out. My kidneys are fine, and a CT scan showed no more kidney stones.

On my diet, I found meat to be salty enough, but now as I switch to quinoa/rice/noodles for lunch and dinner, I find that it is bland. I can't use salt, since it is 590 mg per 1/4 tsp. I bought a salt substitute, but when I got home, it said if you have a heart problem, diabetes, or kidney disease to not use without doctor's approval. I do take 2 pills of potassium. 10 MEQ's each, which my pharmacist said is around 750 mg each.

I will ask my doctor these questions, but would like to ask a few questions here. I figure that many of these issues have come up along the way for people here.

1) Should there be residual pain in my kidneys, or groin after passing a kidney stone? How long should I feel that?

2) Is the wariness about the salt substitute because it is potassium chloride, instead of sodium chloride? It is 650 mg per serving, so would be an extra 1300 g, and my pills are 1500 mg. Would it cause me to have too much potassium? and if so, could I replace the pills, with the salt substitute?

I have 3 hours till my appointment, and will follow my doctor if he says not to use the salt substitute. I am just wondering if anyone knows why it might be unusable. It would allow me to have better tasting food, and stay low on my Na.

Any thoughts on kidney stones would be helpful too.

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